American Idol – Hell? More like helluva virus.

You know, what’s funny for me, is that I watch reality TV a lot – not the funny part – and usually I HATE group challenges, but for all the reasons I hate it on other shows, I love it on Idol. Yes, the “finding a group” part makes me really anxious for the poor actually nice souls, who can’t get a group, but once the groups are set, I’m all in and I’m ready for the realness. Maybe the real reason I love Idol Group night is because these are still kids so it’s ok for them to act this way (whereas it’s unbecoming of the contestants on Project Runway who are straight up adults). I also like htat you get to see a lot of the behind the scene idol staff get really pissed at these kids. And I’m not gonna lie, I like that part.

And this guy is the best.

Based on all the group night contestants, I think we got narrowed down from 190 last night to around 80ish tonight? Not bad. I honestly didn’t realize they cut that many yesterday but I guess they were just limiting showing that part. They certainly didn’t limit group night and I’m thankful for that. Instead of going through EVERY.SINGLE.GROUP. I’m just going to talk about my favorites. And then some notes on some of the other groups that I felt I needed to discuss.

And first and foremost, I’d be remiss if I didn’t discuss Patient Zero, Trent Harmon. And since he wasn’t a group, lets talk about him first.

This guy definitely has mono.

He was by himself in a group anyway. Seriously… all I was thinking the whole show was, who is going to come into the final round before the live shows with mono? I realize Trent probably isn’t making out with everyone but still… ugh. It’s just gross. But then, to be allowed to sing by yourself because of your super contagious illness? Sorry but I feel like that’s a little unfair, no? He was good but is he going to win? I feel like that answer is no. I mean, I know he’s dealing with mono but that’s nothing compared to the stress of group night, and not having to deal with that (I feel) is going to ensure a better performance right off the bat. That said, I do appreciate that he stayed in the competition and performed under the stress of illness – but think about all the people he’s infecting. Every kid saying they felt like they were getting sick, I’m assuming now has mono.

And now that I have that out of my system, let’s talk shop.

For the record, almost all my favorites, aren’t because I liked the whole group, but moreso, a person in the group stood out to me.

So where I had to listen to 2 relatively bad auditions of Renegades, I liked listening to Stayin’ Alive two times in a row. The first one being terrible and this one being the redeemer. This was so good. And of all the performances tonight, this was the only one that I had zero complaints about. This was the Candice Glover “Hit ‘Em Up Style” of this season and in case you need a reminder…

Man this kind of makes me miss Melinda! And I mean, god damn was Candice Glover good (I still follow both on twitter).

It’s not that I thought anyone was bad in this group, but being with Jenna, I just couldn’t help but think the rest might be out because she was just SO good. Her voice was above and beyond her group on EVERY level. Although maybe stop with the hat. I’m honestly amazed with ever step forward Jordan gets.

Am I a little obsessed with “team player” Joy Dove? Yeah. I kind of am. Do I think she’s the best singer? Not really (especially after recently listening to Candice Glover) but she’s fun. I like that she’s gonna do Idol, and she’s gonna do it her way. She truly is a team player, which may hurt her, but I don’t really see her making it to the Top 24 as it is. As much as I do love her attitude and team player-ness. Is there any way we can just keep her on for color commentary or something?

After 2 super boring performances this was a welcome audition. Sure, it was still a song that we’ve heard 3 times now, but the other two times were shorter clips so I’m ok with it (and group night is kind of notorious for that anyway). And like I said, with their energy and good singing, I felt like it was just better. I think Manny is gonna prove to be a very good performer in this show. He has a great attitude. And I’ve decided, I will settle for nothing less than the whole package. I want performer AND singer!

I loved the last line where the girls were right in front of the judges. They were really good. I would be interested in knowing their team name though. Or you know, all the contestants names… maybe it’s not necessary.

I just wanted to mention one other thing too… did anyone notice that Scotty B is goatee-less this season? Does this mean that last season was evil Scott and this season is good Scott?

So, those were my favorites overall, but I did take notes on everyone else and that’s below if you feel like continuing to read 🙂

Let’s talk about the montages first. Was anyone else shocked with the good talent that got the montage treatment, because I was!

Montage of 3 groups:

Amelia Eisenhour, Lee Jean, Tristan McIntosh and 4th person (Too Close) – Fiddle girl is still good without the fiddle! Yey! Also, having recently started watching Real Housewives of Potomac, I think Tristan looks like Ashley from that show. The young one. Their voices are similar too.Avalon Young, Colette Lush and 3rd person Group (DJ Got Us Falling in Love) – Still loving Avalon! Maybe if that’s the style she’ll be singing she can actually keep her style? Doubtful…Jeneve Mitchell Group (I Need You Now) – Obviously they only needed to show her because she was obviously the star of her group. Though apparently her whole group, whoever they were – oh there’s that girl who rode a mule, now that’s a group that probably got along real well! Not sure who that 3rd girl was.

Of all these people I was just glad that Jessica made it through, and I also think Mackenzie sounded better than I remembered. The judges really brought it as far as advice is concerned. Work hard! You think you’re exhausted now? Wait til your career starts. You fall? Get back up and keep performing! The song sucks? It doesn’t matter, make it your own.

Team Something with Brian 3 names, Josiah and Jaci are all out. I’m ok with it.

I just love Jenn. She steals every part of the show for me. I do remember liking Sara too but I don’t think we’ve seen the other two girls before. They were all really good, especially making me not even guess in my wildest imagination, that this was a One Direction song. My favorite was obviously Jenn (are you shocked?).

I thought this group was really weird (not totally surprising) but they were fine singers. I really didn’t like the song for them, and I LOVE Bruno Mars. I did notice at this point, I feel like only like, 2 people so far, have been eliminated. Who are they cutting?

Based on the lead up, and their choice of team name, I was sure none of these people would go through (though I was really hoping Sonika would because come on, she’s legit the best of the last 3 groups – only because we weren’t really able to hear Jessica Cabral sing). After they were done I was just thinking – this group was WAY better than Team Chicken Noodle Soup. This is also where I decided I hated all the song choices for group night. Why have there been so many I don’t know? Am I that out of touch?

Ok Marcio, I’m kind of in for you bud. And now I have identified the mystery guy who was not under any circumstances touching Trent Harmon (Kylle Thomason). This wasn’t my favorite group but I think they were definitely in what I’d call the “better half”.

This is a classic group night song! I mean, these 3 girls had to really show up because there is a high bar set… and thy name is Candice Glover (see above). I thought these girls were fine. I was shocked they kept Gianna with her word flubbing but she has been featured a LOT so maybe it’s not a complete surprise. Now, as for Regina George Eliz Camacho…I mean, you can’t really have that attitude with a voice like that. Gianna looked so confused and uncomfortable up there. It was definitely her worst performance to date.

I.HATE.THIS.SONG. It’s right up there with that ex’s and oh’s song… all over the radio and nothing I want to hear. It’s just EVERYWHERE. I do like CJ though. I was a little surprised they let Zach go because I thought they were equally talented, but I’m also ok with less 20 y.o. white guys.